Wildlife researchers are worried an internationally significant wetland near Hobart is being threatened by development.

In the grassy belly of a wetland known as Eagle Marsh, Mother Nature decides what water she will send down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico and which will end up in Lake Erie via the Maumee River.

April 20th, 2010 marks the day the worst oil spill in history occurred. This is the day the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig exploded and spewed approximately 170 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This is roughly fifteen times more oil than spilled during the Exxon-Valdez accident off the coast of Alaska in 1989.  The spill lasted for 87 days until BP was able to plug the leaky well and stop the spill of crude.

Over a year later, the Gulf Coast region is still devastated, with both people and animals feeling the effects. Fisherman have lost millions of dollars in Louisiana alone, and will continue to lose money over the next two years. 

At present there is a large oil release in the Gulf of Mexico. It is not the first of its kind. Obviously one must try to confine it and then clean it up but what it is the right and effective way? What is a waste of time and resources and what works?

Ixtoc I was an exploratory oil well being drilled in the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico, about 62 northwest of Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche in waters 160 feet deep. On 3 June 1979, the well suffered a blowout resulting in the third largest oil spill and the second largest accidental spill in history. What was effective then?